ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – Lewis University's fourth ranked men's volleyball team swept Ball State on Saturday evening at Neil Carey Arena. With the win the Flyers (19-2) advance to their second consecutive MIVA Tournament Championship match and will host Loyola Chicago next Saturday (April 24) at 7 p.m. at Neil Carey Arena.

Lewis opened the match on a 6-2 run and forced the Cardinals (12-8) to take an early timeout. Ball St. cut the Flyer lead to 11-9 after a kill from Will Hippe but wouldn't get any closer as the Flyers went on an 8-3 run to take a 19-12 lead on a service ace from Ryan Coenen (Franklin, WI/Franklin).

The Cardinals tried to rally cutting Lewis' lead to 20-14 but the Flyers were able to close out the set out scoring five of the last six points to take the opener 25-15.

Lewis raced out to another early lead in the middle stanza, but Ball State rallied back to take an 11-10 lead on back-to-back kills from Bryce Behrendt. The Flyers responded with a 7-2 run to take a 17-13 lead after a kill from TJ Murray (Barrington, Ill./Barrington HS).

The Cardinals trimmed Lewis' lead to 19-18 but wouldn't get any closer as once again the Flyers closed the set strong scoring six of the final eight points to take the set 25-20.

Ball St. flipped the script to begin set three opening the frame on a 5-1 run. Lewis fought back and eventually took the lead at 14-13 after an attack error from Blake Reardon. The two sides went back-and-forth as the Cardinals came back to tie the set at 22 on a kill by Reardon.

The Flyers got a kill from Murray and then Reardon hit one long giving Lewis match point at 24-22. Ball St. fought off the first match point but couldn't fight off a second as Coenen hammered home a kill to complete the sweep.

The Flyers hit .431 for the match recording 38 kills against seven errors in 72 swings. Coenen and Kyle Bugee (Cupertino, Calif./Homestead) led Lewis with 12 and 10 kills respectively. Kevin Kauling (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) distributed 36 assists while Cole Brillhart (York, Pa./Northeastern) and Carlos Jimenez (Miami Beach, Fla./FLVS) had eight digs apiece.

The Cardinals hit .224 in the contest with 36 kills against 17 errors in 85 swings. Reardon had a match-high 13 kills to go along with eight digs while Quinn Isaacson had 30 assists.

Next Saturday's MIVA Tournament Championship match is a rematch of the 2019 MIVA Tournament Final which Lewis won 3-0 at Neil Carey Arena.